One Day Wonder #161

For 2 horns, 2 horns, 3 trombones and tuba.

OK, I’m free from work now. I’m planning a great hymn to freedom, but that will be for another day, probably tomorrow. Once again, I had no idea what to write, but, while watching an episode of Nip/Tuck, I heard a knockoff of a Serge Gainsbourgh tune (which is itself a knockoff of something else) and decided that it would be the object of the day’s piece. The chord progression is what hit me first; it’s block-voiced major-seventh chords. And yes, it’s pretty tonal, except for the bridge, which is just a circle-of-fourths thing. All I wanted to convey in this was the major-seventh sound. When I finished it, I was a bit afraid that it didn’t have enough of a Latin feel – it having the emphasis only on the two and the four – but it justifies its existence well enough. Besides the very pronounced minor sevenths, I like the wandering theme in the horn, the trumpet soli works out nicely. I enjoyed writing this piece, maybe because I’m happy to be free from the constraints of work. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed my job, but it was a trade-off – money for time. Instead of being able to burn a little time and think about the task at hand, I was trying to formulate things in between phone calls. I went through the same thing when I was in the midst of writing Mackris v. O’Reilly (at my regular ad agency job, which I don’t have now) and it was tough to get things accomplished. Although I’m pleased with the overall results, it was a real headache. They say that plentiful leisure time creates philosophers. Well, composers are merely philosophers who can’t think things through to their logical conclusion. That’s why they write music. Anyhow, this piece, as I’ve mentioned, tries to 1) Sound Latin; 2) Highlight major seventh chords (the chords that sound particularly bright in the trombones in E-flat), and 3) Make some nice contrasting sections. I think it works out OK.